Abstract
The junction of an axonal ending with a nerve cell, a muscle cell, or a gland cell was given the name synapse, around the turn of the century, by Sherrington. In mammals - and thus in humans - the chemical synapse is most common. In this type, when an action potential reaches the end of the axon, a chemical substance is released there, and causes excitation or inhibition at the membrane of the adjacent cell. Electrical synapses are relatively rare; here the axonal action potential elicits excitation or inhibition in the next cell without the intervention of a chemical transmission process. At both chemical and electrical synapses, signals are almost always transmitted only from the presynaptic (axonal) side to the postsynaptic region of the next cell. That is, the function of a synapse is analogous to that of a valve.
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Schmidt, R.F. (1983). The Transmission of Excitation from Cell to Cell. In: Schmidt, R.F., Thews, G. (eds) Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-96714-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-96714-6_3
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